This project will improve undergraduate laboratory courses in advanced organic chemistry and instrumental analysis, and will enhance the ongoing undergraduate research program of SUNY-College at Oswego, by introducing liquid scintillation counting (LSC) into the chemistry curriculum. A liquid scintillation counter, a device used to measure low levels of radioactivity, will be used by students for a variety of applications involving radioactive tracers. These investigations include studies of chemical reaction pathways, analyses of mixtures, and elucidation of biochemical pathways. As an analytical technique LSC is simple and safe, yet extremely powerful, and highly efficient for detecting low-energy beta radiation. Providing students with experience in LSC is especially valuable because of the extensive role LSC plays today in industry and in chemical and biological research.
